Don’t Copy Me!
By now, I’m sure that everyone has heard of Guitar Hero. Prior to the latest release in the series, Guitar Hero III, the majority of the songs in the game were actually covers of the original versions of the songs.
When Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s was being produced, Activision approached The Romantics about using their 80s hit “What I Like About You” in the game. The band gave Activision permission to use the song. Activision recorded a cover of the song and went on to sell millions of copies of the game. End of story, right?
Wrong. After the game was released, The Romantics decided to sue Activision. What could the possibly due them about? After all, Activision had received permission from the band to cover the song. It ends up that the band feels that Activision’s cover was too good and they felt that the cover infringed on its right to its own likeness.
WTF?! I would be happy that a good cover of my song was placed in a game that millions of children play. After all, I would expect it to add to the group’s popularity among today’s youth who weren’t around in the 80s to listen to the song during its heyday. I would only sue Activision if they did a crappy job on the cover that made me sound like I had no talent. A musical defamation of sorts. I wish that I could sue someone for making me look good.